Tag: Teigan Zahn

Utah Grizzlies: A Game to Be Thankful For

On the day before a snowy Thanksgiving, with yet another Florida team in town, the Grizzlies got reinforcements from Colorado in the form of Tim McGauley. With Hunter Miska back with the Eagles, Mason McDonald got the start, backed up by Brad Barone.

From their very first shift, Griffen Molino and Tim McGauley made things happen. Taking that into consideration, it was perhaps not surprising that a strong defensive zone shift about four minutes into the game led to an up-ice charge, and Molino’s fifth of the year.

That line continued to be dangerous, creating another chance on a rebound from Sasha Larocque several minutes later.

With 11:59 to go in the first, Utah drew a power play, and Eric Williams continued his scoring ways with a snipe just ten seconds into the advantage.

Unfortunately, less than ten seconds after that, Michael Huntebrinker shot the puck straight through a crowd to put the Everblades within one on their second shot of the game.

The cantankerousness between Utah and teams from Florida continued, and about 12 minutes in, Garrett Klotz dropped the gloves with Kyle Neuber behind Florida’s net. It was a lengthy bout, and shortly thereafter, Utah drew yet another power play.

The Grizzlies didn’t capitalize on the advantage, and at 15:39, they were unable to break up the perfect tick-tack-toe goal. While McDonald probably would have wanted that one back, he turned right around and made a huge, if somewhat unorthodox save one-on-one against an Everblades player on the next shift. Unfortunately, Patrick McGrath took a cross-checking call immediately thereafter. Though Florida briefly took the shot lead, they were unable to capitalize on the advantage, and the period ended 2-2, shots 9-9.

Utah got an early power play when at 1:35, John McCarron got Taylor Richart with an elbow to the face. Though the Grizzlies were able to pick up a couple of shots, they were unable to beat Ken Appleby.

Utah had a couple of good shifts, following the man advantage, but Florida got two skaters behind the Utah defense, and a clean shot beat McDonald to make it 3-2.

Molino continued to get great chances that, for one reason or another, just managed to stay out of the net, both on the breakaway, and in close quarters at the goal mouth, and the home crowd showed their appreciation for both McGauley and Yuri Terao, roaring in anticipation any time either of them led the up-ice rush in possession of the puck.

With 1:12 to go in the second, Feliz Lauzon went bar down from the edge of the blue paint, tying up the game once more. Richart got the assist, and after 40, Utah out-shot Florida 22-18.

Utah jumped into the defensive zone early, and with Mike Economos battling behind the net with an Everblades player, Garrett Klotz snuck around the net, and slipped the puck between Appleby and the post to make it 4-3 just 22 seconds in. Lauzon got his third point of the game, and Economos got the second assist.

Florida counterattacked, and drew a power play at 3:36, but the Utah penalty killers were well up to the task.

However, while they were up for the PK, they were unable to fend off a nearly identical Florida goal scored on yet another cross-crease pass.

The Everblades continued to control the play, getting the lion’s share of offensive zone time through the third period, and tying the shots up.

With under 1:30 to go, Florida rang iron, then Kyle Neuber high-sticked Yuri Terao, which drew a crowd. Teigan Zahn dropped the gloves with Neuber, and then Jack Nevins fought him immediately after. Zahn and Neuber both got two and five, for unsportsmanlike conduct and high-sticking respectively, and Nevins got five and a game for continuing the altercation. The kerfuffle led to a five minute Utah power play, 3:37 of which carried over to OT.

The Grizzlies didn’t need that long. Just 22 seconds into the extra frame, Joe Wegwerth put the puck past Appleby for the game winner.

Wegwerth’s game winner earned him first star honors. “I thought we had a really good start,” he said. “That’s been one of our objectives lately to come out of the gates quick every period. Obviously we had some lulls there in the first and second period, but I thought we battled through it. We’re gonna have some adversity. Not every game is going to be perfect, but we found a way, and when you start to put a streak together, that’s what you have to do, you have to find a way, and that’s what I thought we did.”

Having found success even without their top scorers, the answer to how they’ve got there is simplicity.

“I think we had a lot of success when we kept it simple, chipped pucks by people, I think when we try to skate pucks out of our own end or do too much, that’s when we get in trouble, so I think just simplifying our game, having everyone commit to chipping the pucks out, being hard on the forecheck, finishing checks, I think that’s what really gave us success tonight.”

“Obviously with the way things have been going down here, with guys getting called up, we needed different guys to step up.” Wegwerth continued. “Obviously [Williams] has been doing that right now, and ever since [Klotz] has been here he’s been performing, and being a leader and a big presence for us. It’s great to have guys like that, and obviously [Zahn], he’s a great captain, just a great guy. We’re lucky he’s on our team, he makes guys feel safe out there, that’s for sure.”

While there were moments that left something to be desired, overall Tim Branham was pleased with his team’s effort. “I thought we did a good job to get that good start, and then we kind of got complacent” said Branham. “We didn’t have the same hate on as we did for Orlando. I thought we really let our guard down and didn’t dictate the pace, didn’t dictate play. That first period they didn’t get a shot until eight minutes into the period. Second period, same thing though, and then the flood gates kind of opened. We’ve got to make sure that we’re able to control the game a little bit better. Our game plan was obviously play hard, play physical, but play that puck possession game because they have so many dangerous weapons over there that can score. So we want to make sure that we play that puck possession game. And I thought we did to start the first two periods. You know what, at the end of the day, our power play was great, our penalty kill was great, we were able to get the two points. It was a character win, we learned a lesson — you can’t let your guard down, you’ve got to make sure you play hard. Especially the team we have now. We have a blue collar, hard working team, and we saw that when we play that way against a good team like Orlando with great goaltending, we’re able to have success. We didn’t quite play that full 60 minutes tonight, but we still found a way to get the two points, and good teams do that.”

With two unfamiliar, and talented teams in town recently, every player on the team has stepped up. “Depth scoring, whether it’s from the back end or the forwards, we’re doing a really good job with that. I thought our D carried the play last weekend, tonight our forwards chipped in and scored some goals for us. It’s a fun group to coach. They want to do well, they have each other’s backs, and we’re finding ways to have success. That’s what it’s all about.”

It hasn’t just been the goaltending either. After Terao got taken down and Zahn stood up for him, the team made sure to get the win done on the power play he earned. “We wanted to make sure we had [Zahn’s] back there with the power play, and getting the game winner. When he does stuff like that it gets everyone going, and we want to make sure we repay him for doing that. It’s a tough job, [Klotz], it’s a tough job, but they’re used to doing it, they wouldn’t want it any other way, they’d do it all over again to get another win. This one feels good. That’s a good team over there, that’s a really good team, and we found a way to get two points. We’ve got to enjoy it, enjoy tomorrow with our families and our friends, and regroup again for Friday.”

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard

 

 

 

 

 

Utah Grizzlies: Fast and Furious

Back at home again, but still down Travis Barron, Cole Cassels, Josh Dickinson, Ryan Wagner,  Ty Lewis, and now Tim McGauley, the Grizzlies’ roster looked pretty different from the last time the home crowd saw them. In were Garrett Klotz, Jack Jenkins, and Jake Jackson, while Joe Wegwerth, Mason McDonald, and Hunter Miska all returned to the lineup. Teigan Zahn drew in as the tenth forward, and Misika, hot off a highly successful AHL stint, got the start.

Both teams came out flying, Utah looking especially quick and heavy hitting, creating all kinds of mayhem (but also having to defend against it as well). Into the first four minutes, Utah had decidedly the greater zone time, but had only put up two shots to Orlando’s one.

Yuri Terao especially had some fire in his step, while Garrett Klotz made sure everyone was wide awake with a big hit in the opening minutes. The Grizzlies drew the first power play of the night with Cody Donaghey heading to the box for slashing. Taylor Richart got a couple of big shots from both points, and then Eric Williams beat Clint Windsor with a backhand shot to give Utah the 1-0 lead.

On the next shift, Peter Tischke took a cross-checking call, and the Utah PK got to work half-way through the first, and killed it off. The play that followed wasn’t the cleanest Utah’s shown this season, but it got the job done.

At 7:15, Teigan Zahn and Jake Coughler dropped the gloves at the offensive zone blue line, Zahn got the take-down, and both were sent to cool their heels in the box.

Neither goalie saw much work through the first period, but Miska was where he needed to be when he needed to be, especially as Orlando began to pressure in earnest at the end of the first. The Solar Bears’ hard work paid off, as they took over the shot lead, and with 2:22 to go in the first, made it 1-1.

Utah had a little bit of push-back at the end, and at the buzzer, Mike Economos took the butt end of a stick to the gut, causing a crowd to gather.

After 20, Orlando out-shot the Grizzlies 8-5, but the score remained 1-1.

Griffen Molino had two prime looks to start the second, and Utah headed to the power play, thanks to a delay of game penalty from Chris LeBlanc.

The Grizzlies pressed hard on the advantage, and took the shot lead again before the power play came to an end.

Patrick McGrath took a roughing call about five into the second, but Miska and the penalty killers got the job done once again. J.C. Brassard had a stand out moment of his own shortly thereafter, managing to stall at the blue line long enough for his teammates to tag up while retaining possession of the puck.

The Grizzlies got another power play just past the half-way mark of the second. However, they only really got a couple of looks from the center of the ice before Orlando returned to full strength.

Leblanc found himself back in the box for the third time in the period after slashing Zahn’s stick out of his hands, but though Utah set Richart up perfectly several times, and moved the puck well, the best PK in the league held them at bay.

Orlando got a chance on the power play towards the end of the period when McGrath took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Miska once again showed the moves that earned him a shut out in the AHL, and the Grizzlies killed off the penalty.

The second period came to an end in the midst of a lengthy rugby scrum, shots 20-20, and the score still 1-1.

The third period got off to a choppy start, and both teams fought through the neutral zone for possession. Peter Tischke and Tayler Thompson got matching roughing calls, and Miska remained stellar.

As the period progressed, both teams found themselves in their respective offensive zones for prolonged periods of time. Utah took a delay of game penalty at 8:03, but were able to kill it off fairly smoothly.

As the game entered the final ten minutes of regulation, Miska continued to coolly hold down the fort, and another delay of game penalty sent Utah back to the man advantage.

Once again, the Grizzlies created some nice chances, and made some really nice plays, but were unable to finish on the man advantage.

As the final seconds raced by, Molino whistled the puck at the net, and only just missed giving Utah the regulation win. Utah earned the point, and headed into OT.

Terao got two grade A looks in the first 30 seconds, but was thwarted first by the bar, and second by Windsor.

Fortunately for the Grizzlies, their defense keeps stepping up to fill the scoring void, and Brassard ended OT with his second of the year.

Hunter Miska was easily the best player on the ice for most of the game, but Brassard’s OT GWG earned him first star while Miska took second star, and Williams was named third. Terao and Molino were on fire the entire night, and while they didn’t capitalize, their play led to some really terrific scoring chances.

“Stellar goal-tending, same with theirs, their goal-tending was stellar as well, really proud of the way that our group played” said head coach Tim Branham in his post game comments. “A lot of the things that we worked on in practice this week we implemented. We played a full 60 minutes. I couldn’t be more proud of them. And then the way that they played, the way that they battled, they played a full 63 minutes, whatever it was, can’t say much more other than how proud I am of the way they played.”

Things have been challenging lately, but though they’ve struggled, the Grizzlies haven’t backed down. “We’ve got six forwards in the American league right now, on one team or another. Kudos to these guys who have stepped in and filled those rolls. We knew that we’re not gonna score ten goals a game, or seven goals a game. It is what it is. Our challenge is to play well defensively, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight. Special teams was good again, and it’s a work in progress. Right now this group wants it. They want it really bad, and they’re doing a great job.”

“We know that our record isn’t exactly what we want at this moment,” JC Brassard said of the team’s season so far, “But we’ve been working really hard in practice, doing all the right things, working hard in games, we just didn’t get bounces until tonight, and I think everyone is happy it paid off, and all the hard work is coming together.”

It was obvious that Miska’s return from the AHL helped as well. “When you have a goalie in net who you can trust, and you know is gonna clean up your mistakes, it makes playing a whole lot easier” Brassard added. “You play more relaxed, and you’re a lot more focused on the game as opposed to someone else’s job, so it helped a lot to have him here, and we’re really glad he’s back down.”

Despite having so much movement in the roster, the team seems to have gelled really well. “We’re all working together, we were all clicking today” Brassard said. “We got in a practice together with all the new guys. The coaches have been doing a really good job, and they get everyone informed before the game, and get everyone on the same page.”

The Grizzlies hope to bring the same mindset and execution to tonight’s rematch.

Goals

  • First Period: Williams (Lauzon, Wegwerth) (PP)
  • Second Period: None
  • Third Period: None
  • OT: Brassard (Jenkins)

PP: 1/5
PK: 4/4

 

Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff

Utah Grizzlies vs Idaho Steelheads: Yet Another Close One

Ahead of game three, the Colorado Eagles assigned Tim McGauley to the Grizzlies while Cole Ully and Grayson Downing both remained out of the lineup. Kevin Carr got the start as Utah looked to take a series lead in front of a home crowd.

 

First Period

  • Good start, at least possession wise in the first minute!
  • McGauley gets his first shot of the game on a very nifty little dangle.
  • Josh Dickinson remains hot, corralling the puck in the defensive zone on the penalty kill, and then flying in to score his third of the series short-handed!
  • Really sweet shot from an absolutely flying Michael Economos, but he rings iron.
  • Turner Ottenbreit is a one man wrecking machine out there tonight. Not only is he making some big plays in his own zone, he’s throwing some monster hits.
  • Big save from Carr to deflect the puck up and over the back of the net.
  • Beautifully nonchalant glove save from Carr short-handed.
  • Nothing particularly glitzy from Travis Barron, just rock solid hockey.
  • Dickinson nearly got number two, but Tomas Sholl snagged it.
  • Dickinson with another nifty move, but Ty Lewis just misses the net. Aaaaand Dickinson is down. Not good.
  • Seems ok though.
  • Idaho ties it up with five seconds to go in the period.
  • Gage Ausmus takes a hit after the buzzer sounds, and the Grizzlies aren’t too pleased.
  • 1-1 after 20, shots 13-12 for Utah.

Second Period

  • Tempers appear to be fraying just a touch five minutes in…
  • Big block and then clear by Taylor Richart on the PK.
  • Both teams are looking far better on the PK than they are on the PP.
  • The net comes off its moorings in a wild scramble, and Carr’s not afraid to defend his own blue paint! A crowd quickly gathers.
  • Shouldn’t even be surprised that it’s Kale Kessy whenever a crowd gathers.
  • Lot of zone time for Idaho, though not a whole lot of counted shots resulting.
  • However, when Idaho IS getting shots, Carr has been rock solid.
  • On the other hand, please go establish some possession in the Steelheads’ zone.
  • Gorgeous, gorgeous passing play between Dickinson, McGauley and Herbert. Alas, Sholl is a good goalie.
  • Yet another great save from Carr. Do we sound like a broken record yet?
  • Idaho definitely getting the better end of this period.
  • OH MAN. Joey Ratelle JUST missed burying the puck right as Kyle Schempp and Austin Carrol got out of the box.
  • Barron to the box for rouging with 2:02 to go. The boos from the crowd are definitely the loudest they’ve been sine the Grizz goal.
  • Kevin Carr is the reason this game is tied.
  • 1-1 after 40, shots 19-30 for Idaho.

Third Period

  • Pretty energetic start to the third. Both teams are throwing their weight around with enthusiasm.
  • Another strong save from Carr.
  • MCGAULEY GOAL!!!! Welcome back Timmy! (And Dickinson has another multi-point game.)
  • Much better period thus far for the Grizz.
  • Uhg. Spoke to soon. Puck bounces off the post and in to tie it up at 5:50.
  • And just like that, the momentum has swung right back to Idaho.
  • Ratelle’s gonna fight someone before this night is over.
  • Or you know, Teigan Zahn is gonna fight someone. He and Keegan Kanzig drop the gloves, but it’s over pretty quickly.
  • Dickinson with another beautiful move.
  • Pretttty sure that should have been tripping as a Grizz player flew in to get a shot.
  • Shots have evened up considerably, 29-34 with ten to go.
  • Hero shift from Richy. Blocks a shot in the defensive zone which leads to an offensive zone rush, then flies back to make a couple more big shot blocks in the defensive zone.
  • We’re seeing some nice hockey now from both sides.
  • That thunderous Utah shot from Davis at the point did not miss by much, ringing iron before it went wide.
  • Utah doing a good job at keeping the shots away from Carr in the past five or so minutes, but Idaho is still getting a lot of chances to get possession in the offensive zone.
  • Ratelle and Carroll get a really good pair of looks that leads to absolute mayhem. Ratelle goes in swinging.
  • Richart continues to be his usual rock solid, 100% dependable self, with a little extra playoff spark.
  • The crowd always appreciative of the Captain laying the boom.
  • Not entirely sure what sparked off that newest series of ref you suck chants. Pretty sure that was a clean hit on Herbert.
  • Travis Barron draws a crowd with 15 seconds to go after an offside call.
  • Power play Utah with 8 seconds to go. Shots are 40-35 Idaho.

OT

  • Sooooo…Marchment got roughed over, Herbert jumped to his defense…and HERBERT got a penalty…ok then. Needless to say, that wasn’t exactly a popular call here.
  • Didn’t matter in the end, because they killed it off.
  • Pretty quiet OT, though Utah’s outshot Idaho 3-1 in it.
  • It’s been pretty even, but Idaho is starting to show bits and pieces of that offensive zone time they had before.
  • Lewis and an Idaho player barrel into Utah’s net, but they and Carr all appear to be more or less fine.
  • Ahh bugger. The slowest of slow trickling pucks slides over the line, and Idaho wins game three.

Kyle Schempp’s game winner earned him the first star, while Josh Dickinson got second star with his team-leading goal and assist, and Tim McGauley took third star in his return. Carr also had an excellent game.

“He’s been good.” Tim Branham said about his leading scorer these playoffs, “Obviously his skill set is high for this level, he’s a determined player and plays in every situation for us. He’s done extremely well these playoffs.”

“[McGauley] was a good player for us for many months there, and deserved a call up, that’s for sure,” He continued. “He was buzzing coming down here and playing again, so for as long as we have him we’ll use him.”

“We knew it would be a tight series,” he said, of the team in general, “We were able to get on top of them in Game 1, last two games went to over time, anything can happen. We have to pay attention to smaller details, gotta be willing to pay the price. Idaho works hard for their goals and we’ve got to work harder to stop them from scoring.”

“You’ve got to want it more than them,” he said when asked what needs to change for games four and five. “You know it’s gonna be a crap bounce that goes in, or a hard working play, you’ve gotta work hard for those. I thought we deserved this game to be honest, it is what it is, we’re down 2-1 in the series, only thing we control is Friday. We’ve got to make sure we come out with the same start that we had, clean up a few things in our own end, I’m not liking the goals that are going in. I’m not talking about Kevin Carr, I’m talking about our team. Dumb plays are leading to goals against, and we’ve got to make sure that we clean those things up.”

“Kevin gives us a chance to win every night. He’s done extremely well, made some big saves for us, kept us in it at times. That’s what you need out of your goaltender this time of year.”

“I thought we came out hard, I thought we took it to them. We hit two posts, had some odd man rush situations, and those are the bounces that we didn’t get. We’ve got to work harder for them next time and make sure we bear down in those opportunities, and hopefully our luck will change.”

The Grizzlies get a chance to change their luck tonight.

Goals

  • First Period: Dickinson (SH)
  • Second Period: McGauley (Dickinson)
  • Third Period: None
  • OT: None

UTA: 0/5 (15 PIM)
IDH: 0/4 (17 PIM)

Photo courtesy of Action Sports Photography

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Utah Grizzlies @ Idaho Steelheads: Road Rage

It’s the final road game of the season, and the final of a disappointing—and quite lengthy—road trip. With Joe Cannata called up to Colorado, the Grizzlies signed Alex Leclerc to an ATO. Jake Marchment and Cole Ully both returned to the lineup, but they also lost Ryan Walters after the game in Allen. So, once again, they went with nine forwards and seven defensemen.

First Period

  • All I want is for no one else to get hurt.
  • You can tell these familiar rivals haven’t seen each other in a while. Things looking pretty cautious in the first five minutes.
  • Much better possession for Utah now, which leads to a power play!
  • Oh those Idahops!
  • Good movement, no shots.
  • That was an almost ugly and also very pretty move from Charlie Dodero out of the box. Carr met him easily though.
  • Liking how the guys are looking. Unfortunately, Tomas Sholl is also looking good.
  • Not a lot of shenanigans, just hockey so far.
  • 8-6 are the shots for Idaho after 20, no score.

Second Period

  • Austin Carroll gets mauled in the offensive zone, and draws a power play.
  • Good possession, not enough shots.
  • Joey Ratelle takes a stick to the face by accident, possibly even from Carroll, and now Taylor Richart is hobbling off. This is Not Good.
  • And now it’s Teigan Zahn who’s down.
  • Very nice save from Carr there.
  • Shots went from 8-6 to 15-8 for Idaho right around the same time everyone got hurt.
  • Richart’s back, thankfully.
  • I do not know how that did not go in, but I will not be complaining.
  • Idaho’s got the momentum though, and it’s concerning.
  • Carr gets tripped, and Utah gets their fourth power play. Really would be good to get one here…
  • Not entirely sure why Moroz doesn’t like the call…it was pretty obvious.
  • Josh Anderson playing forward for Ratelle.
  • Carr draws ANOTHER power play!
  • So please get something going on this one…
  • KEVIN DAVIS MAKES IT 1-0!! That’s what I’m talking about.
  • The physicality has skyrocketed. Please no one else get hurt…
  • Zahn and Ondrej Vala drop the gloves, Zahn gets two for boarding.
  • Uhhhg tight angle shot goes off Carr and in.
  • …Wtf??????????????? Carr gets thrown out of the game???? Because…. rEASONS????? What did he even DO!???? No one really protested though, for whatever that’s worth.
  • Alex Leclerc making his pro debut!
  • Apparently Carr shot the puck into the crowd???
  • 1-1 after 40, shots 21-17 for Idaho.

Third Period

  • Ratelle’s back!
  • Laclerc stops all three shots he’s seen so far!
  • A lot more energy in this period so far.
  • Idaho gets in on a three-on-two, but they pass just a bit too much, and Caleb Herbert swoops in and leads the rush back up the ice.
  • I’m not the best at judging icing races, but pretty sure that’s the second puck that Michael Economos has gotten to first that’s still resulted in an icing call.
  • A great save there from Leclerc!
  • Moose draws a power play.
  • Anderson appears to still be playing forward, even with Ratelle back.
  • 2-1 Idaho with seven to go. Do not like.
  • White gets a point blank chance, but Leclerc shuts him down.
  • EN goal for Idaho.
  • Boo.

 

 

Goals

  • First Period: None
  • Second Period: Davis (Lewis, Ully)
  • Third Period: None

UTA: 1/6 (19 PIM)
IDH: 1/2 (17 PIM)

 

Photo courtesy of Action Sports Photography.

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Utah Grizzlies @ Allen Americans: Bad Blood

In their final meeting of the season against the Allen Americans, the Grizzlies hoped to get the win to take the season series. Cole Ully remained out of the lineup, and with Duggie Lagrone released, Josh Anderson returned to action while Joe Cannata got the start.

First Period

  • Well, the bad blood boiled over right off the face-off! Joey Ratelle drops the gloves with Jacob Doty!
  • AAAAND now Verpaelst drops the gloves with Curt Gogol!
  • And two more penalties for Allen and Utah! There have been more penalties than shots so far.You get a penalty
  • The latest player to head to the box is Braylon Shmyr. Still scoreless with 9:30 to go.
  • Good possession on the PP, but no threat at all.
  • O CAPTAIN, OUR CAPTAIN! 1-0 Utah!!
  • There are now as many shots as penalties this period. (Utah holds the slim edge, outshooting Allen 4-3 with 3:30 to go.)
  • Another scuffle after a whistle, and another penalty for Allen!
  • 1-0 for Utah after 20, shots 6-4 in their favor!

Second Period

  • The period opens with 1:57 or so of power play time!
  • Allen’s PK looking better than Utah’s PP, but Ottenbreit has the only shot.
  • Allen has the zone, but the Utah shot-blockers are keeping them from reaching Cannata.
  • This power play would be a really, really good time to double up the lead…
  • Well, it didn’t, but they do now outshoot Allen 12-4.
  • AAAAAAAnd Allen scores. Like I said, getting a power play goal would have been kind of big…
  • Holy CANNATA. HOW did Joe save that???? Pochiro thought he scored, the fans thought he scored I thought he scored!!!
  • Ok, this would be another really good time to score that power play goal…
  • The most unfortunate thing about this whole situation is that Utah’s playing pretty well, getting all the power play opportunities, and outshooting Allen 13-5, and yet we’re tied 1-1. Because of course Allen scored on their only shot this period.
  • OTTENBREIT GETS HIS 11TH!! I think Turner heard me. Richart and Lewis get the assists on the go-ahead goal.

  • Penalty on Zahn.
  • DOESN’T MATTER. The speed of Jack Walker sets up Mitch Maxwell for a shorty!!!

  • Just like that, and Utah’s looking great.
  • Oh boy, Ryan Galt got hit and got up really slowly. The boys aren’t happy about it. Pochiro and Gogol both get ten minute misconducts, and Shmyr gets two for kneeing.
  • At the end of 40, Utah leads 3-1, shots 16-7 in their favor.

Third Period

  • Allen returns to full strength.
  • JK no they don’t. Or rather, they do but they then head straight back to the box on a cross-check on Walker.
  • Another big save by Cannata.
  • Welp, this is gonna be a very important kill.
  • Uhg. 3-2 on the advantage.
  • The Grizzlies creating chaos though!
  • …I do not know why Ty Lewis was awarded a penalty shot, BUT WHO CARES!!! HE SCORES HIS FIRST FOR UTAH!
  • Allen is very not happy about the situation.
  • And they get it back on the power play through traffic.
  • Another big kill coming up…the others haven’t gone so well, so this is concerning.
  • Excellent kill.
  • The amount of time left on the clock with a one goal lead is nerve inducing.
  • Empty net for Allen with a minute to go…
  • Allen calls their time out. It’s moments like this when I especially miss Jake Marchment…
  • It’s a really good thing I don’t bite my nails, because moments like these would cause me to completely ruin them…
  • Fun fact, Gogol spent nearly a whole period in the penalty box this game.
  • EMPTY NET GOAL FOR LEWIS!!!
  • Grizz win 5-3 thanks to power play, penalty kill, penalty shot, even strength, and empty net goals!!

 

Goals

  • First Period: Zahn (Maxwell, Ausmus)
  • Second Period: Ottenbreit (Richart, Lewis) (PP), Maxwell (Walker, Anderson) (SH)
  • Third Period: Lewis (PS), Lewis (Walters) (EN)

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Action Sports Photography.

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